Funny bunny? What does this mean?!?!

[lws84]

Most days, Pasternak stays in his large open crate type house, with his litter box and smaller house inside with plenty of hay and water (I give him greens in the evening – so far he loves romaine lettuce, carrots, cilantro, and he’s pretty happy about broccoli too.  Not so keen on bell peppers or celery).  In the evenings (and some times in the afternoon too if I’m home) I let him run around the living room/kitchen area where it’s safe for several hours (from around 4pm to ? – whenever I head to bed) and one of his favorite things is to run like a crazy rabbit at full speed toward me and then run in circles around me while I stand still.  He also makes a “humph” noise as he hops.  Is he purring?  It sounds more like a “heh heh heh” if you chuckled with your mouth closed.

Anyhow, does anyone know what this means?  He’ll run around me 3 or 4 times in one direction and then switch.  Then, he’ll run away from me a few feet and back to me.  Sometimes I run away from him and he chases me and then does some laps and then I “shuffle” towards him and then run away (I never RUN after him because I don’t want to terrify him).  Sometimes when I run away from him he stops, looks at me, and then comes running after me and runs around me in circles.  Is he just playing with me or is this some kind of bunny ritual/mating behavior/territorial gesture/bunny body language?

Usually after 5 − 10 minutes he will flop down and stretch out and I’ll pet him until he feels like bounding away again.  He’s very affectionate.  He does this with me and my boyfriend and when my boyfriend’s brother dropped by, he did it to him and was completely showing off “pop corning” around the room (we call it pop corn because he looks like a piece of popcorn exploding to the side, up, and every which way).

[{Alli}]

Is he neutered? If I’m reading this correctly, he’s honking at you because he wants to ‘mate’ with you haha another more experienced member may want to double check with that as my bunny doesn’t do that and he’s the first bunny I’ve ever owned. Binkying is the correct term for bunnies but for guinea pigs they do call it pop corning!

[lws84]

Haha thanks Alli! He’s the second rabbit I’ve owned and he is un-neutered, but the last one I owned was also un-neutered and never did this so maybe this guy is just more forward. He doesn’t make any other amorous moves towards me or my boyfriend. Sometimes he’ll just run through the room making his little noise at nothing in particular, (possibly “honking”).

[{Alli}]

Is that him in your profile pic? He is quite the cutie! my bunny isn’t neutered either but he doesn’t spray or display any signs of wanting to ‘mate’ with any of my family members aha blessed he’s so calm Just be glad Pasternak doesn’t hump or spray while he’s not neutered!

[lws84]

That’s actually my last rabbit – Solzhenitsyn.  I need to download, then upload, some photos of Pasternak from my camera to my computer and then shrink them down so I can change my pic.  There are a couple photos of him in an album, actually.  He doesn’t spray or hump – thankfully indeed!

[JackRabbit]

Two of mine (neutered/spayed) act like that sometimes, and one of them makes similar noises. We call the noises Moshi makes “buzzing” or “humming” — his are more like “hmm hmm hmm” as he’s hopping around. He does it randomly, but always when he’s happy about salad time. Bunny 500’s are followed by flops here too. If there’s no humping or spraying, he might just be a vocal happy bunny burning off excess energy.

[LBJ10]

I agree with JR, it could just be general content. Honking sounds sort of like a goose. When they are say “I love you, let’s make babies together”, the honking is usually accompanied by other behaviors such as circling.

[lws84]

Thanks guys so much – it’s hilarious to me when he does it and then flops down. The first time he flopped over I thought maybe he was hurt because he’s violent about it sometimes. Other times he’ll just stretch out in an oozing fashion and other times he kind of falls over and splays out on his back and tries to roll but gets about halfway and sits up quickly. He’s a rascal.

[Little Lion Head]

Our first bunny Boston (female), was spayed and still did the circling, honking, AND humping of hubby’s arm…Sounds like your bunny just loves you and is super happy with zoomies and binkies!

[lws84]

Hahaha Little Lion Head!  Sounds like your bunny LOVED you and your husband too!  Pasternak is quite the affectionate bunny and licks me incessantly after I pet him.  He’s a total rascal.  He loves movie time also – when my boyfriend and I are are watching the movie munching popcorn, I’ll leave him a bowl of greens and he’ll zoom over and munch with us, then lounge in front of the TV like, “hey guys, just one of the gang”.

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